ARTICLES ABOUT TEAM ANNA BY DATE - PAGE 2

NEW DELHI: Former police officer and anti-corruption crusader Kiran Bedi says she is rooting for Narendra Modi as PM because she doesn't trust anyone with a "learner's licence" to run a country of 1.2 billion people. "He (Modi) has not only survived but thrived against Herculean odds. He is the most-legally scrutinised and targeted politician today. Currently Modi is the best candidate for PM. As an independent, my vote is for him! (Not by default but by positive preference)

NEW DELHI: Criticizing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for organizing a 'janta darbar' which ended in a chaos here today, former Team Anna member Kiran Bedi took a jibe at him over lack of "mature" governance and said such meetings do not happen on the streets or the rooftops. "All good governance organises public hearing. Many senior police officers and bureaucrats have public hearings. There is a schedule and method and certainly openness about it. It is not on the streets or on the rooftops.

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare has given his blessings to key aide Kiran Bedi to contest elections if she wanted, in what appears to be support for her attack on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal ahead of Lok Sabha polls. Bedi slammed Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for offering Congress what she said was a backdoor route to power. Bedi, however, insisted that she was not seeking a ticket from any party, a day after she endorsed BJP's Narendra Modi as Prime Minister . AAP has formed the Delhi state government with the support of the Congress.

NEW DELHI: A day after she indicated that BJP's Narendra Modi was her preferred choice for the prime minister's post, former IPS officer and anti-corruption activist Kiran Bedi today said she had not "joined any political party" but had only spoken for herself. "I am speaking as a very strong, clear, independent citizen's voice. I am not a member of any political party, but that's what I did even during the 'India Against Corruption' movement," Bedi said. She had last night tweeted that, "For me it is India First!

NEW DELHI: As Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, 45, creates history by becoming Delhi's first non-Congress, non-BJP chief minister, he also walks into a spot he wouldn't have thought he ever would: an exclusive non-BJP camp. Political pundits say this would mean the BJP and Team Anna will likely veer towards each other. "The BJP and Anna might well gravitate towards each other now, given the internal differences of the former movement," forecasts Ashutosh Varshney, professor of international studies and social sciences at Brown University.

NEW DELHI: Is there a new game-changing political handshake happening? Team Anna and BJP are showering praises on each other. For BJP president Rajnath Singh, the sole claimant for the Lokpal credit is Anna Hazare. And the feeling seems to be mutual, with a key Anna associate rooting for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. Singh who was speaking at a rally in Mumbai — the star speaker at which was Narendra Modi — slammed Rahul Gandhi for claiming credit for the Lokpal Bill: "If there is one person who can take credit for Lokpal Bill, it is Anna Hazare.

RALEGAN SIDDHI: Anna Hazare has thanked Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for his "commitment" to the passage of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, while demanding inclusion of recommendations of the select committee in the bill. "The country awaits a strong Lokpal," Hazare said in the letter to Rahul, dated December 15 and released to media today. "I welcome your commitment to get the Bill passed in Parliament. Please ensure that the points approved by the select committee are also incorporated in the bill," Hazare, whose indefinite fast for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill entered the eighth day today, said.

RALEGAN SIDDHI: Softening his stand on the Lokpal issue, Anna Hazare today suggested moving ahead with the amended Bill presented in the Rajya Sabha and said improvements in the legislation could be brought through amendments later. "Time has came to move (ahead) with the present draft of Lokpal Bill and get it passed. Improvements can be made later through amendments once it becomes a Constitutional reality," Hazare told PTI as his indefinite fast for a citizen's ombudsman entered the fifth day today.

NEW DELHI: Differences between Team Anna and Aam Aadmi Party came to fore on Friday when its leader Gopal Rai tried to interrupt General V K Singh's speech at the venue and was rebuffed by Anna Hazare who has been on indefinite hunger strike for passage in Parliament of Jan Lokpal Bill. General Singh said, "Some people think they are bigger than Anna. " "Why are you interrupting him? If you want to create a ruckus, you can go out," Hazare told Rai. "It is not right to interrupt when someone is speaking," he added.

BANGALORE: Former Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde suggested that Team Anna should accept the Lokpal bill which "Parliament gives now" and hoped Anna Hazare agrees to it. The former Team Anna member said the Lokpal bill might not be the same as wanted by Hazare, who is on an indefinite fast demanding stronger anti-graft measure. However, "let us accept whatever the Parliament gives now, let us see how it functions, and if we find this is not enough- the institution is not functioning well- then we will make a demand to bring about the change," he told PTI. "Why miss this opportunity of getting this bill passed and creating an institution?